Gas-engine.



C. T. WADE.

GAS ENGINE.

Arrmoulon FILED sum1, 1910.

Patented 0st. 8, 1912.

NIITEDSTAIES imminent.` OFFICE.,

cHAnLnsrwwnnn, or ANNAroLrs, MARYLAND.

- GAS-ENGINE.

\ vrmi-.elateaoct 8,1912.

` TQaZZ whom'z't may concern.' i Bait known-that I, CHARLES T.- WADE, avcitizen of the United States, at present. sta` .tioned at Annapolis, inthe county of .Anne Iatrundel and State of Maryland, have-in- -1ventedicertain new and useful Improve-j ments in GasEngines; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact `description of theinvention, such. as

L ;m. willfenable others skilled in the art to which l 1 heylinder,jrwhich .hasboltedtoitsother end pertains to make and usethe same. yinventionrelates to improvements in gas engines and the object of my.invention is to provide a pluralityl-of'explosion cylin- 15h-ders.arranged .in a straight line, with. a.- single com-pressioncylinderbetweentwo ex.`

' plosion cylinders, and allof the istons.be ingmounted `on a singlepiston ro whichis ,proyided with, means for admitting chargesgopfcarbureted air from the compression .cyl- .inder `into theexplosion. cylinders altermately. at the proper -times. A,.urther objectof the invention is .to provide eilicient4 means for cooling the inteita ,25. rior :oftheexplosion cylinders,. which, as-is y,well known, is amatter of great. diiiiculty. Gross reference is made to a prior application,x-,Serial No. 491039, filed by applicant -.on Apr. 20, 1909, for agas .engine construc- .130.y tion not covered by the claimsin. thisapplication.

With these objects in View, .and .others that. will appear 1n thedetailed description, my invention consists in the construction M (andcombinations of parts as hereinafter described and claimed.

j In .the accompanying drawings z-Figure 1 .is, a 1verticalsection of myimproved gas engine, partly in elevation. Fig. 2 is a cross 40..sectionon.,the line .2f-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 lis acrosssection on the line 3-3of Fig. 1. Fig. 4e` is a cross section through the piston rod and thetop of one of the explosion cylinders. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are on'a largerscale $5. .than Fig. 1.'

My invention is a double actingtwo cycle engine and .can be arranged ina vertical 'plane as shown in the drawing, or in a horizontal plane yoran inclined plane as desired. y a re resents a fly wheel mounted on the`shaft t) located in bearings on the base c. This shaft is provided witha crank 10 which is connected by means of the'common connecting rod d,with a wrist-pin -11 carried by ,65 the piston e inthe explosion chambernext to .the usual packing rings Theexplosion cylinder., g.is bolted 0nto the base cy .in` the-y .usual manner and -is vpro- .,z., extending.at intervals .completely around the .periphery of the lcylinder. 4 Itis provided with the usual waterjacket i, although .itzmaybeair.eooledifdesired.` Bolted to .nneend of; thecylnder (1 is 'the compressionVv",theseeond explosiony cylinder 7c. This second explosion-cylinder isalso provided with a series ',ofmarrow. exhaust ports Z, extendingatintervals completely around the .periph- .ery lof the.l cylinder. misa.water jacket mounted-on ,this: cylinder,. which however ,maybeAaircooled if desired. The compres- ,sion cylinder j is slightly. largerin diameter ,thanthe explosion cylinders'in order to .givetagreater..spaceaforL-.drawing in char esof learburete .air.v .Theexplosion cylin ers g and 7c areeachnpen at one end .and areprovided attheotherend with heads n. and 0 respectively, which headsformgpartitions .betvveenzsaadv cylinders .and thefcompression cylinderj. ,Thesepartitions form `bearings dior. the piston .rod.;0, and inthese partitions are mounted pack-ing rings q and 1'. Mountedon the.piston rod.y p, and located within the cylinder j is the compressionpiston u .and .near this piston and on both sides of the `lsameslits 4`and 5 .are cut in the rod 7), which `will be. hereinafter described.yThe piston rod .at one end isscrewed into a screw threaded .opening inthe pistone', located in .oneof the explosion cylinders, and on itsother end.- is .screwed a piston e located in theV other explosioncylinder. These three pistons are screwed to the piston rod p at Awiththe usual packing rings.

w and m represents spark plugs for the explosion cylinders, butobviously anyvwell known means of ignition may be used.

a1T,shaped pipe 3 the ends of which are screwed into openings into thecylinder j. Near the ends of this pipe are located the check valves 1and 2 and the pipe 3 communicates with'. the c linder y' near the endsof. said cylinder. T ese check valves prevent backward flow when the`charges of carbureted air are being compressed first on :the.-base0,-saidkpiston bei-ng provided. with.

,vided with, a seriesofl narrow exhaust ports.

\ Mounted on the cylinder j, at one side, isv

e ual distances apart, and are each provided one side. and then on theother side ofthe piston u, Connected to the T shaped pipe 3 is acarbureter l2 of any approved construction, or a pipe leading to a gasproducer.

In Figs. 3 and 4 is shown on an enlarged scale means for delivering thecompressed charge from the compression cylinder to the explosioncylinder consisting of a number of slits such as -5 cut in thecircumference of the piston rod p near t-he point where it is joined tothe piston u. As shown in Fig. 3, these slits do not pass entirelythrough lthe wall of the piston rod. The piston rod p is hollow from endto end as shown and the three pistons are, of course, centrally cut awayat the point of junction with the piston rod. I prefer to make thepiston rod of considerable size relatively to the pistons.

vConnected to the top of the cylinder c is a casing 9 which is connectedto a suction fan 8 lof any desired type, said fan being driven from anysuitable source of power by a pulley 7. The urpose of this fan .is tocause a constant circulation of cooling fluid through the hollow pistonrod p. The crank casing being open the suction fan 8 causes a constantcurrent of air, as indicated by the arrows, through the bottom part ofthe engine andv up through the hollow iston ro p. The piston rod ismade, as a ready described, comparatively large inl diameter and withcomparatively thin metal walls,l the cylindrical shape affordingsuflicient strength, and the cooling action is therefore very rapid.

As is well known, the chief dilliculties of operating internalcombustion engines of large size are (a) to overcome momentum iol ofreci rocating parts; (b) to cool the engine; c) to keep valves tight andpassages clear. In this engine (a) is taken care of by having acompression at the end of each stroke; (b)` by cooling surfaces,external andint'ernal, which combined area may be varied for a giveneffective piston area; and (c) .by providing enough gas under pressurein the compression chamber to lill the entire combustion chamber, andhaving only mechanical openings, not valves, subject to the heat of thecombustion chamber.

The operation is as follows: Supposing that the parts are in theposition shown in Fig. 1 with a compressed charge in the cylinder g.This charge being ignited forces the piston e down, and by means of thepiston,

rod p .the piston u is drawn down at the same time compressing a chargeof carbureted air on the lower side of the pistonu in thecompression'chamber. This compression continues until the piston u hasabout .reached the lowest limit of its stroke, .when

the exhaust ports li are uncovered, releasing the pressure in thecylinder g, and immediately after the slits 5 form a communicationbetween the cylinders j and g admitting a charge of carbureted air inthe top of the cylinder g, the slits 5 being longer than the cylinderhead. This completely blows out the burnt charge from the cylinder g. Atthe approximate beginning of the return stroke ignition 'of tliecompressed charge 1n the cylinder la, as hereinafter described, takesplace, and upon the upstroke the plston e then compresses a charge ofthe carbureted air in the upper part of the cylinder g, while the pistonu is drawing in a new supply of carbureted air on its lower side throughthe valve 2, and on its upper side compressing a charge of carburetedair which had 'previously been drawn in through the check valve 1. Uponreaching the limit v of the upward stroke the exhaust ports l areuncovered, releasing the pressure in the cylinder lc and immediatelyafter the slits 4 above the piston u will reach the position shown inFig. l and a compressed charge of 'carbureted air is admitted into theupper explosion cylinder 7c. This completely blows out the burntchargein the cylinder 7c. The downward movement of the piston 'v in thecylinder ccompresses the charge of carbureted air in this cylinder untilit reaches the lowest limit of the stroke, when the charge is ignited,the operation being continued. indefinitely, with explosions takingplace in the cylinders g and alternately, thus driving the shaft b andfly wheel a. During all this time the fan 8 is drawingra supply ofcooling fluid through the piston rod 'p and the cylinders g and ls arebeing cooled by a water jacket or in any suitable manner. The walls ofthe piston rod being of thin metal and Said rods being connecteddirectly to the three pistons, these pistons and the rod are thusecie'ntly cooled.

I do not limit myselfvto the kind of c601- ing fluid drawn in throughthehollow pipe p as this might be water, air or steam at low pressure.

While I have thus described my invention I wish it to be distinctlyunderstood that I do not limit myself to the exact details shown anddescribed, as these could be varied considerably without departin fromthe scope of my invention, the main eature of which is to provide twoexplosion cylinders with a compression cylinder between them, all threelocated in the same straight line and with a piston rod of such aconstruction that thecharges of vcarbureted air are admitted fromthe'compression cylinder into the explosion cylinders alternately,without the use of valves, and a supply of cooling fluid is continuouslydrawn through the hollow piston rod.

I claim:

1.In a gas engine, the-combination ofcoaxially arranged compression andexplosion cylinders, pistons in said cylinders, a hollow piston rodsecured to said ypistons and ,ter-

minating at the outer face of said explosion piston in an open endcommunicating with the explosion cylinder, said piston rod beingprovided with means for establishing communication between saidcompression and explosion cylinders, and means for directing a currentof cooling air through said hollow piston rod and the communicatingexplosion cylinder.

2. In a gas engine, the combination of a compression cylinder, explosioncylinders supported co-axiallyon the respective heads of saidcompression cylinder and provided with `open outer ends, pistons inysaid cylinders, a hollow piston rod secured to said several pistons andterminating in open ends at the outer faces of said explosion pistons,said piston rod being provided with means "for establishingcommunication between said compression and explosion cylinders,

` and means for directing a current of cooling air through said hollowpiston rod.

3. In a gas engine, the combination of a compression cylinder, explosioncylinders supported co-axially on the respective heads of saidcompression cylinder and provided with open outer ends, pistons in saidcylinders, a hollow piston rod secured tosaid several pistons andterminating in open ends at the outer faces of said excplosion pistons,said piston rod being provi ed with means for establishing communicationbetween said compression and explosion cylinders, a casing extending'from the open end of one of sald explosion cylinders, and a fan in saidcasing for directing the current of cooling air through said hollowpiston rod.

' In testimony whereof, I affix my signa.- ture, in presence of twowitnesses.

C. T. WADE.

Witnesses:

J. W. GREENBLADE, H. C. WAsHnUnN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C.

